I decided to buy a Fiesta Zetec 1.6 S and after looking around on the internet went to look at an 8 month old car at a Polar dealer last Saturday. They had 2 very similar cars, and I chose one of them as it was slightly newer and had a slightly lower mileage. Cost was £10600. It only had the standard alloys on it, and the salesman said they couldn't swap for the Streetpack ones which the other car had.

Anyway, I bought the car, but at the back of my mind on the way home I was thinking I'm sure it had Streetpack alloys on the advert, but earlier had thought I'd seen so many cars on the internet I must be confused. I checked the advert and sure enough it had streetpacks on.

I phoned to speak to the salesman who never returned my call. Monday was a call to the sales manager...no call back. Tuesday, the same. On Wednesday I managed to get through to the sales manager who at first said it was probably a stock photo, which it clearly wasn't. He phoned back and said that he'd checked the Ford computer system to see what options were on when it was manufactured, and sure enough it had Streetpacks on. He said "This could be a big problem for the company as Ford even want to know how many biros we have. Something like this just can't happen. I'm going to have to put your order on hold while we investigate what's happened".

They'd got the car from their Leeds dealership and said he'd need to speak to them. He promised to call me the next day (Thursday), but the only call I got was from the salesman asking if I was still on for collecting the car. Obviously, not just me not being communicated with! Apparently the sales manager who was going to phone me that day was on a day off (it turned out to be 4 days off as I found out this morning).

After a non returned call to the salesman yesterday (Saturday), I spoke to the business manager this morning and gave him both barrels. Apparently customer service is very important to them!!! He said he wasn't fully aware of the issue, but had heard something about alloys and the wrong photos being shown on an advert. Err, no...right photos, missing alloys. I told him I wanted it sorting and also expected some recompense, otherwise I want a refund of my £500 deposit and will be speaking to Ford.

So after all the above, has anyone got any thoughts? Am I being unreasonable? How much time would you give them to sort it out? (I'm thinking Tuesday or Wednesday. ie. 2-3 days). Would you expect some sort of recompense, and if so, what? Finally, at what point am I entitled to a refund?

My advice - get your deposit back and walk away. If they can't even organise themselves to sell you the car in the correct configuration just image how difficult they could be for warranty/servicing/after sales.

They either supply the car you ordered, as it was manufactured and advertised, fitted with the correct wheels, or are in breach of contract and refund your deposit and reasonable costs incurred. They could argue that you agreed the purchase without the correct wheels, but as you requested the correct ones which they had advertised they would be skating on very thin ice!

Sale of goods act applies, the car must be as advertised.
If the advert showed certain wheels then they are legally bound to supply them.
Unless the advert stated it was a stock photo then they have no argument.

Thanks for the replies, and I totally appreciate the comment that I bought what I saw. I'm annoyed with myself that I ignored the little voice in my head when I viewed the car and that I didn't take the advert along with me.

Anyway, it got to nearly 5pm without a call, but while I was winding myself up for another rant and a demand for my deposit back, the phone rang and it was the salesman. Before he could start I told him what I thought about the customer service there. He was very apologetic saying it's not what they're about blah blah.

Bottom line is they've still not tracked down the missing alloys, but are putting some on from another car and will recalibrate the engine with them on which apparently they have to do. I told him that I thought I was due some recompense for the way I've been messed about, like a full tank of fuel and a free service. He phoned back after speaking to the sales manager and said OK. He claims they're making a branch loss of £600 on the car now, but don't want unhappy customers blah blah (again). Oh, apparently the sales manager didn't phone back because he forgot he was off for 4 days, as you do.

Thanks for the replies, and I totally appreciate the comment that I bought what I saw. I'm annoyed with myself that I ignored the little voice in my head when I viewed the car and that I didn't take the advert along with me.

Anyway, it got to nearly 5pm without a call, but while I was winding myself up for another rant and a demand for my deposit back, the phone rang and it was the salesman. Before he could start I told him what I thought about the customer service there. He was very apologetic saying it's not what they're about blah blah.

Bottom line is they've still not tracked down the missing alloys, but are putting some on from another car and will recalibrate the engine with them on which apparently they have to do. I told him that I thought I was due some recompense for the way I've been messed about, like a full tank of fuel and a free service. He phoned back after speaking to the sales manager and said OK. He claims they're making a branch loss of &pound;600 on the car now, but don't want unhappy customers blah blah (again). Oh, apparently the sales manager didn't phone back because he forgot he was off for 4 days, as you do.